make love & war | the two cultures of serendipity

research centre for art & design avans university I www.serendipity-lab.com I @sebastianolma www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma

Learnings

research centre for art & design avans university I www.serendipity-lab.com I @sebastianolma

The Two Cultures of Serendipity

http://www.theserendipitymachine.com




The Two Cultures of SerendipityLLearnings



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1. WAR: (Cold) War Research in CyberneticsLLearnings




www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma research centre for art & design avans university I www.serendipity-lab.com I @sebastianolma

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www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma

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The Inter-Discipline of CyberneticsLLearnings





www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma www.serendipity-lab.com #serendipitylab @sebastianolma research centre for art & design avans university I www.serendipity-lab.com I @sebastianolma

Wiener, the SerendipitologistLLearnings





The Macy Conferences (1946-53)LLearnings






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“Designed to be intellectual free-for-alls, the conferences were radically interdisciplinary. Researchers from a wide variety of fields struggled to understand one another and make connections between others’ ideas and their own areas of expertise. In the process, a concept that may have begun as a model of a particular physical system came to have broader significance…” (Kathrin Hayles)






J.C.R. Licklider, Director of ARPA’s IPTO (1962)

Intergalactic Computer Network

facilitating the idiosyncratic working methods of the scientific community

ARPANET: Inventing the InternetLLearnings






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2. LOVE: Hippies & PsychedeliaLLearnings





CountercultureLLearnings






Culture of SerendipityLLearnings






Psychedelic Exploration & Artistic ExperimentationLLearnings






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3. LOVE MEETS WARLLearnings





Steward BrandLLearnings






‘the bible of my generation’

‘sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along’

Whole Earth CatalogueLLearnings






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Whole Earth CatalogueLLearnings






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Two Cultures of SerendipityLLearnings

Counterculture radical experimentation with technology and social organisation

Military-Industrial-Academic Complex knowledge sharing guided by the idiosyncrasies of academic work rather than quick ‘valorisation' etc.






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Two Cultures of SerendipityLLearnings

No digital revolution without cybernetics & hippies!






LLearnings Conclusion

Policy for Serendipitous Innovation?LLearnings

Public Space for Art & Subculture

Massive Public Funding for Academic Idiosyncrasy






THANK YOU!





make love & war | the two cultures of serendipity

Government & Nonprofit

art design avans university

sebastianolma j

sebastianolma wiener

sebastianolmaresearch

serendipitologistl learnings

cold war research

hippies psychedelial

macy conferences